DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Crew chief Todd Berrier had a difficult time believing his driver, Kevin Harvick, had just won the Daytona 500.

It was a year ago, and it seemed like Berrier had just made mental peace with himself over the fact that Harvick was going to wheel his No. 29 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing to a top-10 finish or, maybe, if they were lucky, a top-five. Apparently, for just an instant, he forgot that this was Daytona International Speedway -- where history has shown that anything can, and perhaps will at any given moment, happen.

Kevin Harvick

Daytona 500 results

Year	Start	Finish	Led	Status
2002	2	36	3	crash
2003	31	4	0	running
2004	10	4	6	running
2005	30	28	1	running
2006	28	14	1	running
2007	34	1	4	running

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It did in the 2007 Daytona 500. On a frenzied final lap, as cars wrecked and smoked and even turned upside down and caught on fire behind them, Harvick outran Mark Martin to the checkered flag as everyone in attendance and watching on national television held their collective breath, many waiting for a caution flag that never came (watch video).

"It was wild. Even coming back and getting the white flag with one lap to go, and us being in the top 10, I was like, 'Wow. We're going to end up with a decent finish here.'" Berrier said.

"Then, coming off Turn 2 and knowing we were going to get a push from Matt Kenseth and go all the way to the front, it was pretty shocking to see it unfolding. And then when you get up there and you pass Martin a little bit for the lead, and then Mark passes you back a little bit for the lead, and then they start flippin' and wreckin' and all that stuff behind you ... it was pretty intense."

Many contended that had NASCAR thrown the caution flag when it should have, effectively freezing the field, Martin would have been declared the winner. Berrier, now preparing for this Sunday's 50th running of the Great American Race, admitted that even he wasn't certain what had transpired at first -- or even for quite some time afterward.

"We saw that we passed the start-finish line ahead," Berrier said. "But we also saw how it had been the rest of the year, the year before [with the field being frozen when the caution came out]. And we were thinking, you know, that they could revert back to the time of the caution or whatever they called. But the caution never came.

"You were still wondering if it was real or not even after they told us we had won and everything else. I was picking up the paper on Monday morning to see if they had reversed the decision or something."

Then, with a smile and a wink, Berrier added: "There is a history of that here, you know."

That was in reference to the very first Daytona 500 ever run, when Lee Petty had to wait about 72 hours before finally being declared the winner. Those days are over now for NASCAR, but one thing hasn't changed: a wild and wooly finish in the season-opening Daytona 500 is always a possibility and still gets everyone fired up.

Harvick said that he feels confident about the possibility of becoming the first back-to-back Daytona 500 champion since Sterling Marlin in 1994 and 1995. But he and Berrier also both know there will be some luck involved.

"Everything just has to go your way," said Harvick, who qualified 16th for Sunday's race.

Berrier added: "Certainly there is a lot of luck involved, but for the most part we feel ready. I'm not saying we've got 'em covered by no means, but so far so good. Everything has gone pretty good. The car has been driving really good, and we're happy with the way all that's going.

"At the end of the day whatever you did in the past ain't gonna have nothing to do with anything. All that's going to matter is being in the right place at the right time. If you're within two or three rows deep, even four rows deep, and it's two-wide at the end, you're in contention to win this race. I think we were probably sixth or something when we came past the white flag last year. So anything can happen with the right help or the right push -- and it's still going to be about that."

Harvick said putting yourself in the right place at the right time starts a long time before the actual running of the race, however. It starts in the offseason, particularly for a team that won the season-opening race a year ago and then did not win another points event (although Harvick did also earn more than $1 million in prize money by winning the 2007 All-Star Challenge, a non-points event at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C.).

"We've tried to make each little piece better, from the guys working on the chassis to the engines to everything involved down to myself as the driver," Harvick said of the No. 29 team. "We're all trying to take just a little bit different of an approach heading into the year. I think we've tried to turn every stone over to make ourselves better. And I promise you, if it's not better, it's not from a lack of effort."

Last year, despite whatever transpired after, they were good enough to win the season's biggest race. The magnitude of what he had pulled off took some time to sink in with driver as well as crew chief.

"It's the most exciting race of the year for us, obviously. But to be a part of winning a Daytona 500 is something that you can't really explain to people," Harvick said. "I'm glad I got to experience that and understand why it's the biggest race in our sport. Everywhere you go after winning it, that's all anyone wants to talk about. You almost don't understand how big it is until you win one. Then it really hits you."

It finally hit home with Berrier for good that next morning, when the newspaper he picked up contained only photos and stories of the No. 29 winning and celebrating -- and nary a word about the victory being a figment of his imagination or being overturned or anything else.

"It wasn't until the next morning when I saw the paper that I was like, 'Oh, God, we made it. We did it,'" Berrier said. "And then we started thinking about [the next race at] California and that race was gone."